CARACAS, Jan 27, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Venezuela's interim government said Monday it had freed more than 800 political prisoners since before last December, but rights NGO Foro penal cast doubt on the figure.

Since the US military ouster this month of long-time leader Nicolas Maduro, his acting replacement Delcy Rodriguez has been under pressure from Washington to free people held for protesting or otherwise opposing the regime.

Progress has been slow until Saturday, which saw a sudden flurry of 100 prisoners freed.

Dozens of relatives remain in makeshift camps outside prisons, however, waiting for their loved ones to walk free.

"As of today, before December and now, there have been 808 releases," Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, widely seen as a wielder of power behind the scenes, said on state TV.

The exact period he was referring to was unclear.

On Friday, Rodriguez spoke of 626 releases since December in a process she insists was initiated by Maduro himself.

The Foro Penal, which advocates for inmates in Venezuela, said it had verified 383 releases since December, including several foreigners.

Since January 8, when a large-scale release of all political inmates was announced, the number was 266, it said.

"It doesn't match any of the figures" Foro Penal has been tracking, the NGO's vice president Gonzalo Himiob told AFP of the government's numbers.

But Cabello insisted Foro Penal personnel "don't have the list," and said "we don't have to consult" NGOs.

Foro Penal and other rights groups say hundreds of opposition members are still behind bars in Venezuela.

In addition to pledging to free political prisoners, Rodriguez has worked hard at establishing cordial ties with the United States after its arrest of Maduro in a deadly bombing strike on January 3.

She has signed agreements to give Washington access to Venezuelan oil and has said her government was "in a process of dialogue, of working with the United States."